Permaculture consultation in the Northern Rivers and Coffs Harbour

Deep soils, high rainfall, and gardeners already thinking in systems. The Northern Rivers is often the densest cluster of projects on a run, and the gardens here can go further, faster, than almost anywhere on the route.

The Drake food forest on the Northern Tablelands

A permaculture consultation is where every garden on the route begins: a paid walk over your land in the Tweed, Byron Bay, Ballina, Lismore, Grafton, Coffs Harbour and the Northern Tablelands to read it, understand what you want from it, and agree on the first move. Nothing is designed, quoted or planted before it.

Permaculture consultation$250$50 deposit holds your date; $200 on the day.More on the main page →First plantingFrom $1,000Earthworks, soil, planting, mulching and the knowledge to tend it.More on the main page →Annual stewardshipFrom $500/yrA return visit and an in-depth site report each year.More on the main page →

I travel the east coast two to three times a year, so there are plenty of chances to book a consultation and begin a long-term relationship with Food Forest Journey.

Northern Rivers: what this climate asks for

Rain is the defining fact: a lot of it, often all at once, on slopes. Good soil can wash away as easily as it grows food, so a consultation here starts with how water moves across your land and how to slow it, spread it and sink it.

Up on the tablelands the frost arrives, and the plant list changes completely. Reading where your garden sits between the warm coast and the cold ranges is half of the design.

Plants that tend to belong here: Macadamia, finger lime and Davidson plum, all native to this region; avocado, citrus and bananas on the warm slopes; on the frosty tablelands, stone fruit, apples and nut trees. The final list always comes from your site, not from a template.

How a consultation works

Book the dateA $50 non-refundable card deposit holds your date and puts you on the regional route, so I know to be in your area.
Walk the landSoil, sun, slope, water, access and what is already growing, and what you actually want to eat, and how much tending is realistic.
Choose the first moveWe agree on the highest-leverage first phase and what your budget could realistically create. The remaining $200 is paid on the day, with no obligation to book a project.

More on what we look at and what you leave with: permaculture consultation on the east coast.

Gardens on the route nearby

Drake Food Forest: Drake, on the Northern Tablelands: planted in 2022, a cool-climate food forest on high ground.

Questions

Do you do permaculture consultations in Tweed?

Yes. Northern Rivers & Coffs Harbour is part of the Food Forest Journey route (Leg 03 · Tweed → Coffs Harbour). I come to your land for a site discovery: $250, a callout fee for travel, time on the ground and the reading of the site. A $50 card deposit holds your date; the remaining $200 is paid on the day.

What happens after the consultation?

If you want to go ahead, the first planting starts from $1,000 and the budget is split between materials and labour at $50 an hour. Annual stewardship, from $500 a year, brings me back each year with an in-depth site report. There is no obligation after the walk.

When will you be in my area?

I travel the east coast two to three times a year, so there are plenty of chances to book a consultation and begin a long-term relationship with Food Forest Journey. The Northern Rivers sits in the middle of every run down the coast, between South East Queensland and the Mid North Coast. Book ahead to be on the next one.

Elsewhere on the route

Book a permaculture consultation

Send your location, a few photos, your goals and a rough budget. I'll tell you where your land sits on the route and when I can walk it.

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